GREEN BAY — Clay Matthews wouldn't say Thursday whether or not he'd been fined by the National Football League for his late hit out of bounds on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick last Sunday.

He also didn't want to talk about what 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said about him being a dirty player.

But the Green Bay Packers star outside linebacker was willing to say one thing, and in the pantheon of soundbites in recent Packers history, it has to rank among the best.

"I'm an awesome player," Matthews told a large group of reporters gathered around his locker after Thursday's practice. "I'm not a dirty player."

The NFL generally doesn't confirm fines for players until Friday. Sometimes the information comes out sooner if a player, his agent or his team is willing to put it out there. In Matthews' case, the player wasn't interested. In fact, he wasn't interested in anything other than Sunday's game against the Washington Redskins, shouting "Next game!" at one point in the interview session.

Matthews had not spoken with reporters since after Sunday's 34-28 loss to the 49ers, when he admitted it wasn't a smart play and said he and Kaepernick interacted later in the game.

Matthews has only received one other fine for an on-field play, when in 2010 he was fined $5,000 for grabbing Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler by the facemask.

That penalty was questionable if you ask me. Yes he hit him out of bounds, but I have yet to see someone who can stop mid-air. How can anyone be so upset about this - he was trying to make a play and prevent a first down. If not for him - Kaep would have gotten past the marker, maybe to the end zone.

I'm glad Clay doesn't want to make it an ongoing issue all season. I wish I had the will power to let it go - I am concerned about where this sport is headed. I guess we are supposed to let running QBs run all over the place til they decide they are done running. I have lost no respect for Clay over this.

I normally don't wish badly on anyone, but in this case I hope Kaepershit gets a career ending injury and Hairball has a heart attack.

The NFL fined the guy who pushed The Jets qb out of bounds, setting them up for a game winning FG.

Yet there has been no report of any fine for Clays hit.

That tells me that, though it was a bad move on Clay's part, after reviewing, The NFL, as most of us realized it was not "a clothesline" and not a dirty hit. Just a late hit on a QB who has faked going out of bounds in the past, only to cut up the filed for an extra 6-7 yds.

Friday's not over with, so there still might be some action taken, bu t it's usually reported by now.

That penalty was understandable so I'm not worked up over it. Obviously it sucks that they misenforced it after the offsetting penalties but this was a game that we lost for ourselves. Ross being an idiot and backing the offense up against the wall, o line not being able to get push once again, and not being able to stop the pass.

The NFL fined the guy who pushed The Jets qb out of bounds, setting them up for a game winning FG.

Yet there has been no report of any fine for Clays hit.

That tells me that, though it was a bad move on Clay's part, after reviewing, The NFL, as most of us realized it was not "a clothesline" and not a dirty hit. Just a late hit on a QB who has faked going out of bounds in the past, only to cut up the filed for an extra 6-7 yds.

Friday's not over with, so there still might be some action taken, bu t it's usually reported by now.

I'm pretty sure he has already been fined. It's his second fine in the NFL, I think.

That penalty was questionable if you ask me. Yes he hit him out of bounds, but I have yet to see someone who can stop mid-air. How can anyone be so upset about this - he was trying to make a play and prevent a first down. If not for him - Kaep would have gotten past the marker, maybe to the end zone.

I'm glad Clay doesn't want to make it an ongoing issue all season. I wish I had the will power to let it go - I am concerned about where this sport is headed. I guess we are supposed to let running QBs run all over the place til they decide they are done running. I have lost no respect for Clay over this.

I normally don't wish badly on anyone, but in this case I hope Kaepersh!t gets a career ending injury and Hairball has a heart attack.

I don't see how anyone could consider this a questionable call. I don't think it was questionable at all. CK was clearly out of bounds when he was hit. If you are going to use the "can't stop in mid air" argument then that brings up the whole launching yourself at a player issue. If you can't stop in mid air then you shouldn't be launching yourself at anyone. Stay on your feet.

I do think this was a hit that was going to be done regardless of the outcome at some point early on in the game. The packers, and Matthews in particular, were just waiting to put a lick on on Kaepernick the first chance they got.

I don't think it was a dirty hit and I don't think that Matthews was specifically intent on hitting him late. It was just the first opportunity to present itself. It was close enough to not be considered a blatant late hit (7 yards out of bounds as Harbaugh said) and it was a legal hit (no shot to the head or leading with the helmet) that just happened to be late.

It makes me think no less of Matthews either. It hasn't made me lose any respect for Harbaugh either because you can't lose something you never had.

Sorry buckeye, I just realized a lot of what I said was a rehash of what you said.

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